Sci Fi TV Reboots that Should Happen: Reboots are all the rage mostly because the entertainment industry prefers name recognition over original ideas. But there are some properties that truly deserve a do-over because they didn’t quite achieve their goal the first time around or they were cut short.
What Is It?
This mid-1970’s TV series–created by Harlan Ellison–was set on the multi-generational colony starship named Earthship Ark comprised of vast dome enclosures each housing a different society from Earth. The ship was sent out to space to save the last remnants of humanity from a dying planet, but an accident caused it to go into emergency mode and cut off each dome from the rest of the ship. Now, hundreds of years later, the people have forgotten their original mission and live their lives isolated in their domes. Three people discover the interior of the ship and the truth of its nature, though, and they also learn that the Ark is on a perilous course. (You can read more about the show at this link.)
Aired: Syndicated, 1973-74, 1 Season Totaling 16 Episodes
Starring: Keir Dullea, Gay Rowan, Robin Ward
Created By: Harlan Ellison (aka Cordwainer Bird)
Where Did the Original Fall Short?
This show suffered from the technical limitations of television at that time and couldn’t quite realize the ambitions of the writers (despite having Douglas Trumbull onboard as sfx consultant). In addition, the studio pushed for a much more dumbed-down vision for the show, and they cut the budget switching from film to video tape (like what classic Doctor Who used) at the last minute. Harlan Ellison ultimately became disillusioned with the show and distanced himself from it (leading him to take his name off the show in place of his infamous Cordwainer Bird moniker).
Why Reboot It?
This show had a promising concept as evidenced by the award-winning script for the pilot written by Ellison and it aired in syndication where Star Trek was drawing huge viewership in the 70’s. Starlost could have become the next big sci fi show, but studio interference and budget cuts (along with poor writing) acted as a huge hurdle. Ellison’s initial script was recently adapted to comics (IDW’s Phoenix Without Ashes), proving that there was a good idea in place when this thing started. And with the technical advancements since the original aired (leaps and bounds above 1970’s sfx), this idea would work quite well on television today.
It could do dome-of-the-week stories which would give it somewhat of an episodic feel while also working in an overall story arc that taps into the grand space-based epic that it teased. This is definitely not a show that would interest the broadcast networks, and might be out of reach budget-wise for the basic cable channels. But the premium cable channels and/or the streaming services could take a flyer on it. Harlan Ellison brings some name recognition and sci fi cred, and the original series is recognized as having plenty of potential. With the right crew helming this, it could turn into a great genre series if given a second chance. There have been talks of revisiting this show, but nothing substantial has come from that yet.
Where Can You Watch It?
The full series has been released on DVD. All of the episodes are also available on YouTube (at this link), including the original sales pitch for the show (which borrows footage from Trumbull’s Silent Running). And interestingly enough, there is a Roku channel dedicated to the show that has all the episodes available. It is titled–appropriately enough–The Starlost.
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Ellison apparently took every opportunity to voice his “displeasure” over the situation with this show. There’s an interesting audio interview of him done contemporaneously with the show’s broadcast run. He rips into just about everyone. He really dumps on Keir Dullea as the lead. Interestingly, he wanted Walter Koenig to play the lead character Devon because apparently Koenig was a friend. I’m not saying Dullea was a great actor or anything (especially not in Starlost) but Koenig did not have the look or charisma to be a lead – Ellison was blinded by friendship on that one.